About drunkenness.
From the same author.
Inequality is a grievous thing and the cause of differences, just as equality is free from all annoyances and contributes to unite men for advantageous ends.
From the same author.
Obedience to the law and equality are the seeds of peace, and the causes of safety and continued durability; but inequality and covetousness are excitements to war, and dissolvers of all existing things.
About evil-doers.
The words of Philo.
Those things which chastise the first, are, if men are wise, preventatives of the second.
About the eye and sight.
The words of Philo, from the treatise about the Creation of the World.
The outward senses resemble windows; for through them, as through windows, the comprehension of the objects of the outward senses enters into the mind, and again through them the mind goes out to investigate such objects. But the sight is a part of these windows, that is to say, of the outward senses, since above all others it is akin to the soul, because it is nearly connected with the most beautiful of all things, namely light, and is a servant of divine things; and, indeed, that is the sense which first opened the way to philosophy. For when the eye had beheld the motions of the sun and moon, and the periodical revolutions of the stars, and the unvarying motions of the whole host of heaven, and the indescribable order and harmony of the whole universe, and the one unerring Creator of the world, it then related what it had seen to reason, as having the supreme authority; and reason, having beheld with a still more acutely piercing eye both these things, and things of a still more sublime character in their appearance and species, and the great cause of all things, it then immediately arrived at a due conception of God, and of creation, and of providence; considering that the whole nature of all things was not brought into existence of its own accord, but that of necessity it had a creator, and a father, and a guide, and a governor, who also created it, and who also preserves everything which he has created.
About contentment.
The words of the same author.
If you have a great deal of wealth, take care and do not be carried away by its overflow; but endeavour to take hold of some dry ground, in order to establish your mind with proper firmness; and this will be the proper exertion of justice and fairness. And if you should have abundant supplies of all the things requisite for the indulgence of those passions which lie beneath the belly, be not carried away by such plenty, but oppose to them a saving degree of contentedness, taking in this way dry ground to stand upon instead of an absorbing quicksand.
By the same author.
One should practise being contented with a little, for this is being near God; but the contrary habit is being very far from him.
About faith in and piety towards God.
The words of Philo.
What can be a real sacrifice except the piety of a soul devoted to the love of God? whose grateful feelings are made immortal by God, having conferred on them an immortal duration like that of the sun and the moon, and the whole world.
About wicked and impious men.
From the same author.
The hopes of wicked men are unstable, as they expect a good fate, but suffer a contrary destiny of which they are worthy.
About a bad conscience.
The words of Philo, from his treatise on Men and Things which are Improperly Named.
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